


Put Down the Scissors and Let's Talk About It

by lea_hazel



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Background Het, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, F/M, Female Friendship, Found Family, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-14 07:25:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1257889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lea_hazel/pseuds/lea_hazel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She laughed nervously. The beginning was the one thing she absolutely could not talk about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put Down the Scissors and Let's Talk About It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darthjamtart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthjamtart/gifts).



Alison was scrutinizing herself in her compact mirror, trying to figure out whether that spot of discoloration on her chin was a pimple coming out or not, when the door opened and the doctor called her in. She rushed to follow her in, tucking the mirror back into her purse. The office, like the waiting room, was polished but simply furnished, with abstract paintings on the cream-colored walls and potted ferns in the corners.

“Please,” said the doctor, “sit anywhere you're most comfortable.”

Alison sat down on an armchair and crossed her legs, placing her purse on the carpet and her hands on her knees.

The doctor said nothing at all.

“Well,” said Alison.

“Yes, Alison?” asked the doctor.

“Well, I'm not quite sure where to start.”

“How about you start at the beginning?” said the doctor.

She laughed nervously. The beginning was the one thing she absolutely could not talk about. She didn't know if they still had people committed for things like that, and she wasn't about to find out. She racked her mind for something innocuous to say, but everything that she could think of led right back to the C-word and she knew that was out of the question. In the end, she decided to start from the end.

“My husband and I,” she said, “are working on our marriage. We'd been having... problems.”

“Well,” said the doctor, “since I'm not a relationship counselor, and since your husband...?”

“Donnie,” said Alison.

“Since Donnie isn't here with us today,” the doctor went on, “I imagine you're here to talk about more than your marriage. First, why don't you tell me a little bit about your life.”

Alison told her. The doctor took great interest in her children and the adoption procedure, so Alison told her about finding out that she was sterile, which led directly to the subject of her being adopted.

“After your parents told you about the adoption,” the doctor asked, “did you ever go looking for your biological parents? Family? Half-siblings?”

“No,” said Alison. “Not at first.”

“When did you decide to try and find your birth family?” asked the doctor.

“I didn't,” said Alison. “They found me. Well, _she_ found me. My... I guess she's my sister. My sister, Beth.”

“When did you first meet Beth?”

Alison thought back and counted. “Last spring,” she said. “So it's been... almost a year.”

“And in this time, what sort of interactions did the two of you have? You said Beth sought you out. Did she tell you why she was looking for you, or how she found you?”

The 'why' of the matter was off-topic. She could hardly say her sister was looking for her to warn her about a shadowy illegal organization that wanted to assassinate her. “Facial recognition software,” she said instead. “Beth is – _was_ – a cop.”

The doctor raised her eyebrows.

“I know,” said Alison. “I'm a soccer mom, and my twin is a cop, I've got to look back at my life and think about if I have any regrets, right? But I don't. No regrets. I didn't give up anything for my children.”

“Let's back up for a minute,” said the doctor. “You said Beth was your twin.”

Alison nodded. “Identical. That's how she found me. The adoption records were sealed, of course, but a police officer has other resources at her disposal. As I said, Beth and I are – _were_ – very different.”

“Were?”

“Yes.” She cleared her throat. “Beth, uh, Beth committed suicide last year.”

The doctor set down her pad and pen, sat back and laced her fingers together. “What you're saying, Alison,” she said carefully, “is that in the last year, you met your biological sister for the first time, discovered she was your identical twin, and then found out that she'd committed suicide?”

“Yes,” said Alison, nodding, and then again, “yes.”

“Were you close?” asked the doctor.

“Yes,” said Alison, fumbling to reach her purse. “Yes, we were close.”

“I see,” said the doctor. She set a box of tissues on the glass-topped coffee table and said, “Let's talk a little more about Beth.”

[ ](http://imgur.com/KRj0eza)


End file.
